Sen. Roderick Wright wins new delay in voting fraud, perjury trial
Sen. Roderick D. Wright (D-Inglewood) has won another delay in his trial on voting fraud and perjury charges, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office confirmed Monday.
Wright cited a scheduling conflict in his request for a delay in the trial, which had been scheduled to begin July 15.
The Legislature is taking a month’s recess, starting that same day. However, Wright attorney Winston Kevin McKesson said the legislative session would resume before the trial could be concluded, thus necessitating the delay.
Wright’s next scheduled court date is an Oct. 1 status conference, but the trial could not begin until sometime in November, McKesson said.
Wright was indicted by a grand jury in September 2010; he faces eight felony counts of perjury and voting fraud.
The counts stem from an investigation by the D.A.’s office, which accused Wright of lying about where he lived in order to run for his state Senate seat, starting in 2007, when he claimed he had moved into what was then the 25th District (now the 35th due to the state’s 2011 redrawing of political boundaries). Wright claimed as his residence a room in an apartment complex he has owned in Inglewood for many years.
Prosecutors allege that Wright actually lived outside the district in a Baldwin Hills house, making him ineligible for the Inglewood-based seat.
Wright has denied all the charges and insisted that he will be found not guilty at trial.
He and his attorneys have requested several delays since the indictment, including challenges to some of the charges, which were upheld on appeal.
The case has so far had little effect on Wright’s state Senate career. In November, he was reelected to a second four-year term, winning nearly 77% of the vote against a little known, poorly financed Republican candidate in the strongly Democratic district.
ALSO:
Obama picks California watchdog for FEC
States try to tackle ‘secret money’ in politics
States crack down on campaigning nonprofits
Twitter/@jeanmerl
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
